Four Days In... London!

So as you may or may not be aware, I went on a school trip to London last week with Biology as I chose it as one of my four AS subjects. We left early on Thursday morning and arrived home in the late afternoon of Sunday. You may think that four days in London isn't a lot, but trust me, we got a lot done in those four days!

On the first day we flew from Belfast to London Gatwick and travelled to our accommodation via the Gatwick Express train and the underground tubes. My first experience of the London Underground is one that I will never forget! As the tube stopped all of a sudden and I was unaware that it did so, I nearly fell flat on my face, if it wasn't from a typical Londoner who grabbed me, clearly knowing I was a London virgin!

We then went to a talk at University College London (UCL) and were able to explore the campus, and it really was very interesting! We then walked from UCL to ZSL London Zoo and went straight to another talk on breeding the animals which was also interesting, despite us being tired! After this, we split up into smaller groups to eat lunch and explore the animals! Unfortunately we accidentally by-passed the lions when walking around and didn't have the energy to walk back to them by the time we had finished!

I bought the Vita Coco water thinking it would be absolutely sensational, but unfortuantely I thought it was gross! Definitely time to try Fiji water!

That evening we dressed up and took a short walk to the local Pizza Express where I got a lovely margarita pizza which was so yummy!

On Friday, we were up bright and early and went to the Natural History Museum at 9.30am. We had time to walk around the museum ourselves and it was really really interesting and we also made it a lot more fun than it probably should have been!

The afternoon of Friday was spent by looking around the typical sights of London, for example - Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London.

The lions at Trafalgar Square!

Buckingham Palace!

Top: Topshop

Leggings: Jack Wills

Shoes: Toms

Big Ben.

The Tower of London.

That evening we went for dinner by the London Eye where we went to a restaurant called Strada. We got pizza again and also got free dessert for giving feedback on their website - therefore I would highly recommend!

The London Eye was so breath-taking, especially at night as all of the lights were phenomenal - it felt as if the city of London went on for an eternity! It was lovely being able to pick out attractions such as Big Ben and Buckingham Palace from the top of the wheel.

The tube was then taken home and myself and nine other girls decided to pile into one small bedroom where we all chatted until the early hours of the morning, until we proceeded to our own rooms. I shared a room with Phoebe and we ended up chatting together even longer when we got back to our own room!

As usual, we were up and out by 9.30am on Saturday as we spent the morning in the Science Museum in London. We then took the tube the Regent Street where we went crazy with shopping! Let's just say that Phoebe and I spent over two hours in Victoria's Secret! All details on what I bought will follow in a separate post that will be up shortly!

On Saturday evening we went to Joy King Lau Palace in China Town which was incredible. I had a chicken and chilli dish and we ordered some jasmine tea for the table which I have since then become obsessed with. It just smells and tastes so incredible and is apparently really healthy for you so I will definitely be researching further into that! We then made a quick trip to M&M's world. Phoebe, Georgia and I just spent the rest of our night in our room just chatting and eating a lot of food and drinking a lot of coke.

The Beatles at M&M's World!

The Sunday morning was the day that we had to say good bye to the magnificent city that was London. Everything about it was just so majestic and breath-taking. It was also really lovely having a roof top breakfast outdoors every morning with yummy big slices of bacon alongside a lot of healthy fruit that prepared us for the long day ahead!

We basically just made our way back to the airport and had two hours there where we could shop. Phoebe and I found ourselves again in Victoria's Secret and I came out with three more shopping bags than I had going in - oopsies!!

The plane journey home was very quiet and the majority of us slept as the time away was so exhausting!

Needless to say, it was possibly the best extended weekend away in my life as I got to see so many sights that I've only ever seen on TV or the internet. I also got to have my first experience of a Victoria's Secret shop that wasn't online which really was one of my main highlights of the trip! I also got to get closer to a few girls in my year which is also really exciting.

I'm so excited to go back to London to revisit this sensational city. I would love to go back within the next two years so I'm furiously planning away, but if not, then it was a great experience while it lasted! I'm so jealous that my dad gets to visit London on  a weekly basis with his job!

I really hope you all enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed my time away because as you can probably tell, it was such a great time! There will be at least one (but possibly multiple) blog posts of things that I bought while I was away so please do keep a look out for that!

Much love,
Ellen xo

Bargain Alert

If you aren't a new reader on my blog then you will know that I love shopping, especially getting great bargains! I went into Primark one day for a look around and came out with this lovely bargain!

This is the phone case I got from Primark and it was only 50p! Clearly didn't break the bank!

I really needed a new phone case because I had used my Jack Wills case for nearly a whole year!

I love the colour and how it is as bright as a highlighter. That means I can never lose it! The colour is just such a gorgeous colour of yellow.

The one thing I don't like about it is that it's the rubbery kind of material so it can be pretty hard to slide into my pocket. But I can't complain as it was only 50p!

I thought that as it was summer when I bought it, it would be a nice summery alternative as my current phone case looked very wintery! I've decided that I love getting new phone cases as it makes it feel as if your phone is brand new again!

If you want to know more of what very cheap bargains I find, then please let me know!

Much love,
Ellen xo

A Day In... Glasgow

On the 13th August I went with my family on a day trip to Glasgow. My mum and auntie do this every year in summer and this year myself and my two sisters decided to go too. We hopped onto a boat at 7.30am and made the journey to Scotland. We then took a coach that led us right into the centre of Glasgow. We had 4 or 5 hours to spend in the city.

Boat selfie! I'm hoping to include this top in a separate blog post soon as it's super funky!

 On the boat I enjoyed a lovely cup of tea.

I then decided that I needed a good boost of energy so on the coach, I drank a bottle of Lucozade in the flavour pink lemonade - mmm!

The shops were just incredible so I decided to take a few photos of the shops! Here is the Vans shop! It looks super cool from the outside.

The Hard Rock Cafe Glasgow which I didn't get time to go into!! I was so so gutted - I will definitely go there next time!

Jack Wills. We only spent a brief time in there as I had ordered stuff off the website that week!

I don't know what this building is but I guess it looked pretty.

We had a break from shopping and went to Di Maggio's.

Di Maggio's was in a little area called Merchant City which was really pretty.

I had a super yummy pizza and a glass of Fanta Orange.

The Doctor Who Police Box thing!

The Apple shop looked pretty awesome.

Forever 21. I bought a cute pair of jeans which will definitely feature on my blog soon! They will be perfect for Autumn!

The Commonwealth Games statue/logo thing! It was cool.

Lines on the ground in the colours of the Commonwealth. I hope you enjoy my shadow haha.

"People Make Glasgow"

Lush. I definitely need to revisit this place and buy stuff!

MAC. I'm so excited to spend all my Christmas money on MAC products!

We had a refreshing drink at Costa before heading back to the coach.

Mmm and a big greasy bowl of chips on the boat on the way home!

During the day I didn't really buy much apart from the jeans from Forever 21 and another thing from H&M which I will do a separate blog post on! The time flew by so so quickly but my sisters also got a few nice things that I helped pick out for them.

I'm hoping to make going to Glasgow an annual thing like my mum and auntie do. So next year I may be off with my friends to Glasgow or maybe back again with my family!

I hope you enjoyed this day trip and if you did, I might include more day trips in my future blogs!

Much love,

Ellen xo

Update

Hey everyone!

The last week for me has been so so busy so I'm writing a quick blog post to update you all on what's been happening in my life lately!

Basically, for the last six days I went to a camp in Wales and we weren't allowed any mobile devices so I had to queue the posts I was uploading each day which was crazy because it meant that once a post was uploaded, I couldn't let you all know by Twitter or Instagram. Through this, I feel that a lot of good posts I've uploaded haven't been viewed by as many people as I would have liked.

Therefore I've been tweeting and encouraging you all to check out my last few posts because I spent a lot of time on them and think you will enjoy them!

I will be posting at least one blog post about my time away in Wales as I have many photos to share with you all!

I'm also really looking forward to August as I have at least one day trip away planned, my birthday and at least two concerts so a lot will be happening!

Hope you're continuing to enjoy my blog!

Love from Ellen xo

A Day In... Belfast

Hello lovelies!

Today I have had a very busy day! I went up to Belfast with my mum and my sisters just to have a look around, not really with the intention of buying anything.

But as always, I bought a few things!

The outfit that I wore today was a light pink top with fluorescent pink lace and it was from Miss Selfridge. This top was £20 and it was definitely worth the money! You can find the exact top here, although the lace is a lot brighter in real life!
With this top, I wore my Topshop Joni Jeans in white. The link to these are here. They are definitely worth £36 as they are perfect for summer! They are also very comfy.

I paired this outfit with my go to River Island gladiator sandals. I actually can't remember how much they are and unfortunately can no longer find the link to them!

I brought along with me my new Mulberry bag which my boyfriend bought me!

I first went to Zara and bought a beautiful pair of jeggings which will be really handy for the rest of summer and also when I go away in September. I really love the shade of denim! They were so well priced at £19.99 which is half the price of Topshop and I think that the quality is just as good!

I also saw a beautiful bag in Zara for £39.99 which I fell in love with but I knew I didn't need it because I just got a new bag last week.

I then went to House of Fraser and went to Paperchase and picked out a few pieces that I'm going to buy before going back to school, but I decided I would purchase them in August when it's closer to school - I also didn't want to be carrying too much around with me because it was super warm!

I then went to Ted Baker and bought the most beautiful bag. It was £39 and will definitely come in handy. I've had a Ted Baker bag before in a similar style and it served me very well! You can order one yourself on here. I bought the bag in black.

I went to Topshop and unfortunately didn't really see anything I wanted but the nail polish stand really impressed me! I definitely will return soon to pick out one of their matte colours!

As I was very tired from being shopping, my mum ordered us all a Domino's pizza which we really enjoyed! The two for Tuesday's offer is so brilliant!

I then bathed my dogs and had a lot of fun taking cute little photos of them!

Candy.

Jasper.

Later that evening my family and I took a trip to our local Costa coffee. It was super super warm today so I decided to cool off with an iced lemonade which was sooo nice!

I then came home and relaxed. I decided to treat myself to a facial mask and I will be reviewing this specific one in a blog post coming up soon so keep an eye out!

Hope you enjoyed what I got up to today,

Love Ellen xo